Easter treats that are perfect for sharing

It’s the time for families to gather and friends to reunite when we create some wonderful dishes and spend well deserved time with the people we love.
Lisa and Bruno have shared their favourite recipes for seasonal treats to enjoy as part of a picnic or at home in the garden.

Scotch Eggs

Makes two

Ingredients

60g Sausage Meat
2 Quails Eggs
Salt
Black Pepper
Flour
Egg White
Fresh Breadcrumbs
Small Garnish Salad of Seasonal Leaves

Method

  1. Boil the quail’s eggs for 2 minutes in boiling water.
  2. Once cooked, remove from the pan and cool under cold running water to stop them from cooking any further.
  3. Carefully peel the shell from the egg, then wrap 30g of the sausage meat around each egg.
  4. Roll the egg wrapped in sausage meat in the flour, then in the egg white, followed finally by the breadcrumbs.
  5. Deep fry for 2 minutes at 180°c until golden brown and serve immediately.

Sausage Rolls

Ingredients

Serves four

100g sausage meat
30g streaky bacon, finely diced & fried until crisp
½ onion, finely diced and confit
3 sage leaves, finely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
Puff Pastry (see recipe)

Method

  1. Preheat your oven to 220°c.
  2. Cook onions on a medium heat in butter until translucent.
  3. Mix together your sausage meat, diced bacon, confit onion and chopped sage. Mix well until all ingredients are well incorporated then season with a little salt & pepper.
  4. Roll out your pastry to around 3-4mm thick and trim the pastry to give yourself a 14cm x 12 cm rectangle.
  5. With the longest edge facing you, place the sausage meat mix onto the pastry in a long tube shape near to the edge closest to you, leaving approx 1-2cm edge of pastry free around the meat.
  6. Use a little egg wash to brush down the opposite long edge so that the pastry will stick and create a seal which will prevent your sausage roll from leaking too much during cooking. There should only be small overlap of pastry once you have rolled your sausage.
  7. Take a second thin sheet of pastry and use a lattice cutter to create a piece of latticed pastry which will be put over the top. Brush the whole outside of the pastry with egg wash. This will give your sausage roll a nice crispy glaze during cooking.
  8. Place onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper and bake for 10 minutes. Reduce the temperature of the oven to 200°c and cook for a further 10-12 minutes.

Rough Puff Pastry

Ingredients

500g strong white four
10g salt
500g butter, unsalted, cut into 2.5cm cubes
250ml cold water

Method

  1. Sift the flour onto a cool work surface and make a large well in the centre.
  2. Place the cubes of butter in the well and, using your fingertips, lightly work the ingredients together, gradually drawing in the flour.
  3. When the cubes of butter have become very small and half squashed, add the water to the well and gradually mix all the ingredients together. It should still contain flakes of butter.
  4. Clean the work surface and re-dust with flour.
  5. Roll out the dough into a rectangle 3 times longer than it is wide.
  6. Fold in one third of the dough, then fold the remaining third on top to make 3 layers
  7. Give the dough a ¼ turn so the sealed bookend edge is on your right. This is your first ‘turn’.
  8. Now roll the pastry out in a length towards and away from you, until it is 1cm / ½ inch thick, dusting the work surface regularly with flour and picking up the pastry to ensure it doesn’t stick.
  9. When it is 3 times as long as it is wide again, fold as before. Wrap in cling film, and leave to rest in the fridge for 20 minutes.
  10. Repeat the rolling a folding process twice more, to make 4 turns in total.
  11. Wrap the pastry well in cling film and chill for one hour before using
  12. You can store in the fridge for a couple of days or in the freezer for 3 months.

Carrot Cake

Ingredients

For the carrot cake:
65g wholemeal flour
7g baking powder
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
30g dessicated coconut
2 medium eggs
65g dark muscovado sugar
45g vegetable oil
125g grated carrot
30g raisins

For the cream cheese frosting:
35g                cream cheese
90g                icing sugar
65g                unsalted butter
A few drops of vanilla extract

Method

For the cake:

  1. Preheat your oven to 180°c.
  2. In a bowl, mix together the eggs, sugar and oil until the mixture becomes pale and approximately doubles in volume.
  3. Gently fold in the dry ingredients, being careful not to over mix – the cake mixture should be quite loose.
  4. Finally gently fold in the grated carrots and raisins until they are well incorporated.
  5. Spoon some of the mix into the mould about ¾ of the way to full and bake in the oven for approximately 20-30 minutes, or until a metal skewer comes out clean.

For the frosting:

Simply beat all the ingredients together until you get a pale and fluffy mixture.

Simnel Cake

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

112g unsalted butter
57g glace cherries, chopped
28g blanched almonds, chopped
90g golden raisins
57g mixed peel
28g ground almonds
1 grated rind of lemon
1 grated rind of orange
2 tbsp amaretto
112g soft light brown sugar
3 eggs, beaten
60g ready-made marzipan, halved
¾ tsp baking powder
½ tsp ground cinnamon
140g plain flour

Method

  1. Preheat your oven to 180°c.
  2. Mix together the dried fruits, nuts, peel and rinds in a bowl and add half of the amaretto. Leave to soak for 1 hour.
  3. In another bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the beaten whole eggs a little at a time, mixing well in between.
  4. Coarsely grate in approx. 50-60g of the ready-made marzipan and add in the soaked fruit mix. Gently sift in the baking powder, cinnamon and flour and fold the whole mixture together.
  5. Pour into dariole moulds and bake for 30-40 minutes.
  6. Once baked, prick the surface all over with a fork. Pour over the rest of the amaretto and allow to soak into the cake, whilst still in the tin. Allow the cake to cool completely before removing from the tin.
  7. Brush the top of the cake with apricot glaze. Roll out the remaining marzipan you have left and place a rectangle over each cake. Cut to the size of your cake and mark as per the demo. Roll “simnel” balls and place around the edges. Blow torch to finish.

Northcote Ginger Biscuits

Makes 20 biscuits

Ingredients

150g self-raising flour
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
1tsp ground ginger
65g soft brown or muscovado sugar
65g unsalted butter
100g golden syrup

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 170°C (fan assisted) and line a baking tray with baking parchment.
  2. Sift all the dry ingredients apart from the sugar into a large bowl. Stir the soft brown sugar through.
  3. Rub the butter and the dry ingredients together to a fine breadcrumb consistency.
  4. Pour the golden syrup into a pan and warm over a gentle heat. Add to the mixture and combine using your hands.
  5. Roll the dough into small balls and arrange on the baking tray.
  6. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 10-12 minutes.
  7. Leave the biscuits on the baking parchment but transfer the parchment to a wire cooling rack. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Mini Egg Log

Makes 2 rolls

Ingredients

For the Swiss roll:
2 medium eggs
50g caster sugar
33g self-raising flour
20g cocoa powder

For the chocolate butter icing:

100g soft butter
170g icing sugar
30g cocoa powder
30g dark chocolate
20g milk chocolate
Drop of milk
6 Mini Eggs

Method

For the Swiss roll sponge:

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 200°C (fan assisted). Use a small amount of butter to grease the baking tray and then line its base and sides with baking parchment. Evenly sprinkle some caster sugar over the paper.
  2. Quarter-fill a large saucepan with boiling water and bring back to a simmer (level 5 in the cookery school).
  3. Mix the eggs with the sugar in a large glass bowl and place on the saucepan. Whisk until the eggs are thick and creamy, this will take around 5 minutes.
  4. Transfer the beaten eggs to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with balloon whisk attachment and beat on high speed to “ribbon” stage, around 2 minutes. The sabayon should have cooled a little.
  5. Sift the self-raising flour and cocoa powder into the bowl and carefully fold into the sabayon. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake in the pre-heated oven for 8 minutes or until springy to the touch.
  6. Remove the tin from the oven and allow to rest for a couple of minutes.

For the Chocolate Butter Icing:

  1. Place the softened butter into a mixer fitted with a beating paddle and mix until it is light and fluffy.
  2. Sieve the coca powder and icing sugar and add to the butter, and keep mixing until the mixture is smooth.
  3. Melt the chocolates together in a pan (level 2 in the cookery school). If at home, melt gently in a bowl over a pan of warm-to-hot water
  4. Add the melted chocolate to the butter mix and mix quickly so as not to let the chocolate cool and start to solidify. Add a drop of milk if you need to let the consistency down a bit.
  5. Serve immediately

To build the Logs:

    1. Place a tea towel onto the workbench and cover with a piece of baking parchment, slightly larger than the baking tray.
    2. Invert the sponge onto the baking parchment and carefully remove the top layer of parchment paper. The sponge should face you lengthways (portrait style as opposed to landscape).
    3. Cut an inch strip from each edge then cut the sponge in half. Cut a 1cm strip at the bottom of this square of sponge.
    4. Spread enough icing butter on the sponge and gently roll up.
    5. Spread with icing leaving the texture as per demo and decorate with chocolate peelings and the mini chocolate eggs.